Since his first concert tour of South America in 1986, which included over forty engagements in eight weeks, Scott Watkins has appeared as recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist on three continents, to enthusiastic applause and high critical acclaim.
In 1999 Mr. Watkins made a highly successful New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall that elicited a standing ovation.His debut solo disc for the Saragossa Digital label which features works from his New York recital, was released that same year to high praise.Reviewing this disc, Folio Weekly called Watkins "a polished player in his prime."
A native of Ohio, Mr. Watkins holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the University of South Carolina, and has done extensive post-graduate work at Florida State University, numbering among his teachers Bela Siki, Raymond Dudley, Marilyn Neeley, and Edward Kilenyi.He has also worked with Eugene Istomin and Alexis Weissenberg.
Watkins' US debut in Chicago in 1985 (an all-Bach recital on the Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series which was broadcast live across the US on Public Radio stations) was followed by numerous concerts in North and South America, Europe, and the Caribbean, including festival appearances at the Glenn Gould International Festival in Toronto, and at the William Kapell Festival at the University of Maryland, the Brevard Music Festival, Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, and the Garth Newel Music Festival in Virginia.Other notable engagements include performances at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, Preston Bradley Hall in Chicago, the Brahms Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Teatro Teresa Carreno in Caracas, Venezuela, St. Gervais in Paris, and Santa Maria di Spaltena in Gailoe, Italy.His performances have been broadcast frequently in the United States and Canada, and in South America and Europe on The Voice of America radio network.
Watkins' concerto engagements have included performances with The Cincinnati Philharmonia, The Maracaibo (Venezuela) Philharmonic, The Montevideo (Uruguay) Symphony Orchestra, The Sherman (Texas) Symphony, The Brevard (Melbourne, Florida) Symphony Orchestra, The Garth Newel Festival Chamber Orchestra, The Florida State University Symphony Orchestra, The Toronto Symphony, The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, and The Jacksonville Symphony, under the batons of such conductors as Philip Spurgeon, Christopher Confessore, Fabio Mechetti, Roger Nierenberg, David Lloyd-Jones, Christopher Wilkes Andrew Davis, Lawrence Dutt, and Federico Garcia Vigil.A champion of new music, Watkins recently recorded An American Sonata (for two pianos and percussion) by noted American composer and pianist Gary Smart, and he has given world premieres of music by Elie Siegmeister and Ned Rorem.
Scott Watkins is the recipient of numerous awards, including the John Philip Sousa Award for Outstanding American Musicians, Rotary Club of Florida's Annual Artistic Merit Award, and France's Jeunesse Musicales.In 1999 he won the Patricia de Angelus Award at the Memphis International Beethoven Piano Competition, and in 1985 he became the youngest winner ever of the US State Department's Artistic Ambassador Award.
An active chamber musician and accompanist, Watkins has performed with The LaSalle Quartet, violinists Eugene Fodor and Hilary Hahn, and Soprano Elizabeth Futral.His Chicago recital with Elizabeth Futral was broadcast live on WFMT in Chicago, and his performance with Hillary Hahn was broadcast on NPR's "Performance Today."His recordings include a disc of late Romantic lieder with baritone Steven White and his debut recording which features music by Beethoven, Schumann, and Liszt.His holiday-inspired disc, called Christmas Cards, is a top seller at CDbaby.com, and proceeds of the sale of this recording are donated to help fund the building of the memorial to United Air Lines Flight 93 which crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, the date Christmas Cards was actually recorded.
Recent concert highlights include an Atlanta recital with soprano Elizabeth Futral, and with cellist Alexei Romanenko in a performance of the complete Beethoven Sonatas for Cello and Piano in Jacksonville.In 2005, Watkins made a return recital appearance in New York which featured music by Enesco, Bach, and Chopin, following a brief concert tour of the east, including performances at Wright State University, Muskingum College, Lake Wales (Florida), and Converse College.A recent recital at Jacksonville University was a fund-raising event for a local charity, The Otis Smith Kids Foundation, which raised enough funds to sponsor a child's programs for an entire year.As concerto soloist, Watkins made his fourth appearance with the Brevard Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, and with the Jacksonville Symphony in four performances of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.In 2005, Watkins was the clinician/accompanist for the Florida Music Educator's Association's Men's Chorus under the direction of R. Wayne Bailey.The chorus performed at the state convention held in Tampa.Also in 2005, Watkins organized and performed in a four-part series of concerts at Jacksonville University celebrating the two-hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Mozart's birth, including a lecture, a solo recital, and a chamber music concert.This unique series of events involved students and professors from each department within the College of Fine Arts (music, theater, art, dance), and gained the attention of similar events as far away as Mozart's home, Salzburg.
Watkins recently gave the world premiere performance of Jian-jun He's Piano Sonata No. 1 in Casper, Wyoming, commissioned Wyoming Music Teachers' State Association annual conference.Jian-jun He's Piano Sonata No. 1 was given its New York premiere in April of 2010 when Watkins gave his third solo recital at Weill Recital Hall in a program which also included Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101, and Chopin's 14 Waltzes.
Watkins maintains an active schedule of teaching and performing.He is currently Assistant Professor of Piano at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida, where he teaches piano students, theory, holds weekly masterclasses, and performs regularly as recitalist and with colleagues.His former students have gone on to study at Vanderbilt University, Ithaca College, Louisiana State University, Stetson University, among others, and he is regularly in demand as an adjudicator.
Scott Watkins, Piano
Biography
Since his first concert tour of South America in 1986, which included over forty engagements in eight weeks, Scott Watkins has appeared as recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist on three continents, to enthusiastic applause and high critical acclaim.
In 1999 Mr. Watkins made a highly successful New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall that elicited a standing ovation. His debut solo disc for the Saragossa Digital label which features works from his New York recital, was released that same year to high praise. Reviewing this disc, Folio Weekly called Watkins "a polished player in his prime."
A native of Ohio, Mr. Watkins holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the University of South Carolina, and has done extensive post-graduate work at Florida State University, numbering among his teachers Bela Siki, Raymond Dudley, Marilyn Neeley, and Edward Kilenyi. He has also worked with Eugene Istomin and Alexis Weissenberg.
Watkins' US debut in Chicago in 1985 (an all-Bach recital on the Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series which was broadcast live across the US on Public Radio stations) was followed by numerous concerts in North and South America, Europe, and the Caribbean, including festival appearances at the Glenn Gould International Festival in Toronto, and at the William Kapell Festival at the University of Maryland, the Brevard Music Festival, Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, and the Garth Newel Music Festival in Virginia. Other notable engagements include performances at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, Preston Bradley Hall in Chicago, the Brahms Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Teatro Teresa Carreno in Caracas, Venezuela, St. Gervais in Paris, and Santa Maria di Spaltena in Gailoe, Italy. His performances have been broadcast frequently in the United States and Canada, and in South America and Europe on The Voice of America radio network.
Watkins' concerto engagements have included performances with The Cincinnati Philharmonia, The Maracaibo (Venezuela) Philharmonic, The Montevideo (Uruguay) Symphony Orchestra, The Sherman (Texas) Symphony, The Brevard (Melbourne, Florida) Symphony Orchestra, The Garth Newel Festival Chamber Orchestra, The Florida State University Symphony Orchestra, The Toronto Symphony, The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, and The Jacksonville Symphony, under the batons of such conductors as Philip Spurgeon, Christopher Confessore, Fabio Mechetti, Roger Nierenberg, David Lloyd-Jones, Christopher Wilkes Andrew Davis, Lawrence Dutt, and Federico Garcia Vigil. A champion of new music, Watkins recently recorded An American Sonata (for two pianos and percussion) by noted American composer and pianist Gary Smart, and he has given world premieres of music by Elie Siegmeister and Ned Rorem.
Scott Watkins is the recipient of numerous awards, including the John Philip Sousa Award for Outstanding American Musicians, Rotary Club of Florida's Annual Artistic Merit Award, and France's Jeunesse Musicales. In 1999 he won the Patricia de Angelus Award at the Memphis International Beethoven Piano Competition, and in 1985 he became the youngest winner ever of the US State Department's Artistic Ambassador Award.
An active chamber musician and accompanist, Watkins has performed with The LaSalle Quartet, violinists Eugene Fodor and Hilary Hahn, and Soprano Elizabeth Futral. His Chicago recital with Elizabeth Futral was broadcast live on WFMT in Chicago, and his performance with Hillary Hahn was broadcast on NPR's "Performance Today." His recordings include a disc of late Romantic lieder with baritone Steven White and his debut recording which features music by Beethoven, Schumann, and Liszt. His holiday-inspired disc, called Christmas Cards, is a top seller at CDbaby.com, and proceeds of the sale of this recording are donated to help fund the building of the memorial to United Air Lines Flight 93 which crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, the date Christmas Cards was actually recorded.
Recent concert highlights include an Atlanta recital with soprano Elizabeth Futral, and with cellist Alexei Romanenko in a performance of the complete Beethoven Sonatas for Cello and Piano in Jacksonville. In 2005, Watkins made a return recital appearance in New York which featured music by Enesco, Bach, and Chopin, following a brief concert tour of the east, including performances at Wright State University, Muskingum College, Lake Wales (Florida), and Converse College. A recent recital at Jacksonville University was a fund-raising event for a local charity, The Otis Smith Kids Foundation, which raised enough funds to sponsor a child's programs for an entire year. As concerto soloist, Watkins made his fourth appearance with the Brevard Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, and with the Jacksonville Symphony in four performances of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. In 2005, Watkins was the clinician/accompanist for the Florida Music Educator's Association's Men's Chorus under the direction of R. Wayne Bailey. The chorus performed at the state convention held in Tampa. Also in 2005, Watkins organized and performed in a four-part series of concerts at Jacksonville University celebrating the two-hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Mozart's birth, including a lecture, a solo recital, and a chamber music concert. This unique series of events involved students and professors from each department within the College of Fine Arts (music, theater, art, dance), and gained the attention of similar events as far away as Mozart's home, Salzburg.
Watkins recently gave the world premiere performance of Jian-jun He's Piano Sonata No. 1 in Casper, Wyoming, commissioned Wyoming Music Teachers' State Association annual conference. Jian-jun He's Piano Sonata No. 1 was given its New York premiere in April of 2010 when Watkins gave his third solo recital at Weill Recital Hall in a program which also included Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101, and Chopin's 14 Waltzes.
Watkins maintains an active schedule of teaching and performing. He is currently Assistant Professor of Piano at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida, where he teaches piano students, theory, holds weekly masterclasses, and performs regularly as recitalist and with colleagues. His former students have gone on to study at Vanderbilt University, Ithaca College, Louisiana State University, Stetson University, among others, and he is regularly in demand as an adjudicator.